Downtown Transit Center is an intermodal transit center in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The station is operated by the

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) is a major public transportation agency based in Houston, Texas, United States. It operates bus, light rail, bus rapid transit, HOV and HOT lanes, and paratransit service (under the nam ...

(METRO), serving both the Red Line of its

METRORail METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the List ...

system and nineteen bus routes. It is the southernmost Red Line station in Downtown Houston. The station also services METRO's headquarters, the Lee P. Brown Administration Building. The transit center is divided into rail and bus stations. The rail station consists of two

island platforms An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single railway platform, platform is positioned between two railway track, tracks within a railway station, ...

, one for northbound service and one for southbound service, at the intersection of Main Street and St. Joseph Parkway. The bus station, located on the opposite side of the Administration Building at St. Joseph Parkway and Travis Street, consists of nine covered bus bays and a METRO RideStore

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...

center.

History

In 1993, METRO began negotiating locations for a $17 million downtown bus transit facility, which would reduce bus traffic along Main Street and accommodate the larger volume of downtown buses required by its Regional Bus Plan. The proposal encountered resistance from downtown business interests, who desired a location south of the Pierce Elevated (I-45) to reduce disruption to downtown pedestrian corridors, as well as local churches and condominiums, who cited noise and vibration concerns. METRO selected a location just north of the Pierce Elevated, which was viewed as a "compromise" site, with a planned opening date of 1999. In 1997, due to funding issues, construction of the center was delayed to 2010. However, in 2000, the project was re-prioritized and set to open in 2005, which would correspond with the end of METRO headquarters' lease at

Total Plaza Total Plaza (formerly the Entex Building, Louisiana Place, and United Gas Building) is a tower in Downtown Houston, Texas, one block from the Allen Center complex. The building, managed by Brookfield Properties, opened in 1971. The 35-story buil ...

and the planned opening of a new light rail line. The facility was simply named Downtown Transit Center, though an alternative proposal suggested the name Cathedral Square in reference to the nearby

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

. In 2001, the site was used for a

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

ceremony for the rail line. In late 2003, Houston Metro opted to name the headquarters building on the site after then-mayor Lee P. Brown in recognition of his advocacy for the light rail line. The station, along with the Red Line as a whole, was opened on January 1, 2004. At the end of the same year, METRO began moving offices to the building, starting with the METRO RideStore. In 2021, METRO began adding bus-only lanes along Travis Street and Milam Street leading to and from the transit center.

References

METRORail stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 2004 2004 establishments in Texas Railway stations in Harris County, Texas Transit centers in the United States {{Texas-railstation-stub